Nguyen Thi Cat holds the rusty bullet that has been removed from her body. Cat’s husband said the bullet hit her chest one day in 1971 during the war when she was cleaning the backyard at her home in Kien Giang Province. Photo: Dinh Tuyen/Thanh Nien

Doctors in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho have removed a bullet lodged in a 61-year-old woman's body since 1971.

Nguyen Thi Cat, 67, was admitted to Can Tho General Hospital last week with severe abdominal pain.

Surgeons removed a rusty bullet of four centimeters long and one centimeters in diameter after a three-hour procedure on Tuesday.

Cat’s husband said the bullet hit her chest one day in 1971 during the war when she was cleaning the backyard at her home in the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang.

She was rushed to a hospital unconscious and was pronounced dead.

But she woke up when her family was bringing her home for funeral. They rushed her back to the hospital.

Once again, doctors confirmed she had died.

The family brought her body home, and somehow she started breathing again.

A doctor at Can Tho General Hospital shows the bullet that has been in 67-year-old Nguyen Thi Cat's body for 45 years. Photo: Dinh Tuyen/Thanh Nien

“Since then, she has been healthy,” the husband said.

Her family said everybody in the family has almost forgotten about the bullet. Cat said she told some doctors about the bullet, but they all believed it would be very risky to remove it.

But earlier this month, Cat began to have severe abdominal pain and could no longer walk.

The family took her to the hospital in Can Tho just in time, doctors said. She has recovered from the surgery.